Thursday, April 30, 2009

Fall in flu cases in Mexico over past few hours: Health Secretary

28 April 2009 15:00 hrs

Fall in flu cases in Mexico over past few hours: Health Secretary27 April 2009

At 20:30 hrs on Monday 27th, Health Secretary José Ángel Córdova Villalobos held a joint press conference with Patricia Espinosa Cantellano, Secretary for Foreign Affairs; Javier Lozano Alarcón, Secretary for Labor and Social Welfare; Dr. Philippe Lamy, representative of PAHO/WHO in Mexico; Guillermo Ruiz Palacios, head of the infectology department of the Salvador Zubirán National Medical Science and Nutrition Institute; and Miguel Ángel Lezana Fernández, Director General of the National Center for Epidemiological Monitoring and Disease Control.

The Health Secretary reported that the World Health Organization alert level had been raised to phase four due to outbreaks of swine flu infection in the United States and Canada. He also underscored the WHO’s recommendations to keep borders open and not to restrict international travel. The Health Secretary expressed his condolences and solidarity toward all those families who have lost loved ones during this epidemic.

The Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare then explained that economic activities and jobs will continue during the contingency phase, and he asked employers and business-owners to maintain fluid and flexible labor relations with their workers, particularly pregnant women and nursing mothers.

The Secretary of Foreign Affairs noted that according to the WHO recommendations, Mexico’s borders should not be closed, and so crossings by people and goods are subject to no restrictions. She explained that the positive aspect of the step-up to phase four was that it would allow the consolidation and strengthening of the WHO’s capacities in the areas of international cooperation, medicine supplies, and coordinated action with governments, should that become necessary.